Dr. H. Serdar ŞARDAN
ÇEİS Secretary General
“In the first quarter of 2021, we exported cement to approximately 100 countries. We have
become exporting to 18 new countries such as Poland and Croatia. The opening of the Syrian market is a very important development for our industry. On the other hand, the USA is still our most important market among all markets. When we look at the January-March period, there is an 11% increase in our exports to the USA compared to last year. With the declared packages, we anticipate that the demand in the US market will increase in 2022 and 2023.”
ÇEİS, one of the umbrella organizations of the Turkish cement industry, has recently come to the fore with its different projects and works. What are the general goals, strategies and projects of the institution for 2021? What kind of studies and projects are currently being carried out in ÇEİS?
Cement Industry Employers’ Union (ÇEİS) has been proudly serving the stakeholders of the cement industry for 57 years. As a union, the most important item on our agenda is to prepare the industry for the future. In line with this responsibility, our strategy is to position the cement industry as a visionary, innovative, contemporary, nature-friendly and socially sensitive industry that can quickly integrate into the modern world.
In order to achieve these goals, we carry out several simultaneous projects on a very intensive agenda and in a systematic manner with the contributions of our stakeholders who are experts in their respective fields.
ÇEİS Campus, which aims to increase the quality of the workforce, the Building Design Contest, where we opened up space for the creative spirit of the industry, our mobile application CIP, which accelerates digital communication, the Research on the Effects of Covid-19 on the Cement Industry Working Life, which we prepared to guide the way in the pandemic period, the Culture and Technology Contest that brings our industry together in cultural activities, and the Online Family Meetings series, in which the employees of our industry attend with their families, are just a few of our prominent works. We are based on a sustainable approach in all our activities, and we believe that the foundations of future bugüsuccess are laid today. We will continue to develop projects in order to increase the economic and social contributions of our industry to our country.
The difficult year of 2020 has deeply affected many sectors and the economy in general. The year 2021 continues in the shadow of the pandemic, too. Can we have your general views on both the Turkish and the world economy and the cement industry in particular?
COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China, spread rapidly and reached the level of an economic and social crisis on a global scale. In 2020, when we began to feel the effects of the pandemic in great uncertainty, the health systems, supply chains and infrastructures of even countries that are one of the biggest carriers of the global economy collapsed. I think that the pandemic, which makes itself felt in almost every aspect of life, will be influential in our lives for many years to come.
Unfortunately, although some countries do not have access to the vaccine yet, vaccination activities continue rapidly in many countries of the world. Authorities expect that large populations will have been substantially vaccinated by the end of this year. I believe that these developments are a hope for the near future that we should cling to. The reports and evaluations of globally respected institutions prove that we can adopt an optimistic attitude. In the Interim Economic Outlook Report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 2021, it is estimated that the world economy will experience a vertical growth of 5.6%.
In the April 2021 issue of the World Economic Outlook Report titled “Managing Separation Recovery” published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is another prestigious institution in monetary policies, the Turkish economy is expected to grow 6% in 2021 and 3.5% in 2022.
After the contraction in 2017-2019 as an industry, I can say that despite everything, we have successfully closed 2020 and made a strong start to 2021. In the midst of all these ups and downs and difficulties, the cement industry continued to maintain its success graph with great determination. In 2020, when we met with the corona virus pandemic, we achieved a rate that many sectors could envy, and we achieved a 23% growth in domestic sales. I can say that we are very pleased with the first data we have received for 2021. In the first two months of 2021, cement production increased by 33.1% to 9.7 million tons compared to the same period of the previous year, while domestic sales increased by 36% to 6.9 million tons. In the January-April period of 2021, the total exports of the cement industry increased by 12.3% and reached 394 million dollars. We rank first in Europe and sixth in the world in production. In exports, we rank first in Europe and second in the world. I sincerely thank our member companies and the workers of our sector, who continue production by taking intensive health and safety measures; they are the architects of this success.
Can you evaluate the current situation of the cement industry, which is extremely important for Turkey? What steps do you think we need to take to reach a better point?
With the responsibility of being a sector that makes a significant contribution to the Turkish economy, we continue our activities in both domestic and foreign markets. Although we have a picture that we are proud of, we are well aware that there is no limit to progress, and we spend long hours on areas where our industry needs improvement.
I think that one of the areas where development is needed is the widespread use of technology in the sector. As included in our Report on the Effects of the New Coronavirus on the Turkish Cement Industry, the latest and effective technologies are used in the capacity increase in Turkey in recent years. Despite this, as of the end of 2018, when data are available, the rate of facilities operating with new technology in 51 integrated facilities is 18%, while the rate of facilities operating with old technology is 82%. Actors operating in our sector are very willing to equip their factories with the latest technologies and integrate with Industry 4.0 requirements, but they are at the beginning of the road. In this regard, I would like to emphasize that the incentives and support of our state and relevant ministries are needed.
On the other hand, I can say that our industry, which plays a very important role in the world market, needs “local in global” manufacturers who are strong in foreign markets and can utilize local resources efficiently. Having local and global companies that will identify with Turkey in the world cement companies league and contribute to the Turkish brand is a critical issue in terms of our strengthening in the international arena and providing more foreign currency inflows to our country. Again at this point, the encouragement and support of our state will be the greatest guarantee of our sustainable future.
ÇEİS not only contributes to employment but also carries out important studies on education. What is your approach and work on education? What do you especially do to provide qualified personnel support for the sector?
The field of improvement that will bring permanent solutions to the cement industry in the long run is undoubtedly education. Every industry in the world can be successful in proportion to the quality of human resources representing that industry. For the prosperous future of the industry, we attach great importance to focused and qualified development. With this vision, we launched the ÇEİS Campus in the last days of 2020, and we have placed another important cornerstone on this path where we invest in people.
We believe that ÇEİS Campus will become a brand in the field of education in the cement sector and set an example for different sectors. We designed the campus within the framework of the concepts of “Inclusiveness, Reliability, Flexibility and Branding Vision” for all white-collar managers and employees so as to cover all ÇEİS trainings apart from OHS training. There are 10 different classes on the campus and more than 100 educational topics in these classes. The campus has undertaken an important service by succeeding in bringing together many competent, reliable and well-known education partner organizations from Turkey and abroad under the same roof. Since the campus was opened, we have provided 59 different trainings in 9 different classes. We received more than 1000 applications from whitecollar managers and employees for these trainings. I would like to proudly underline that the overall satisfaction rate for all trainings was 4.68 out of 5.00.
Another source of pride for us is the Cement Sector OHS Training Center (ÇİSİEM), which has earned us the title of being “Turkey’s first Employer’s Union to have an Occupational Health and Safety Training Center”. Here, trainings for both white and blue-collar employees continue uninterruptedly. Serving the sector with an intensive training program since 2017, more than 3000 people have benefited from the general participation trainings, 16-hour compulsory OHS trainings and the OHS Leadership Program of ÇISIEM. I would like to share the news that we have increased the education support rate we provide to our members from 80% to 100% by 2021 in order to support ÇEİS member companies.
In addition, we reached 1176 sector employees and their families with the webinars on 14 different topics organized within the scope of “Cement Sector Online Family Meetings”, which we launched in May 2020. Employees of our industry attend the conversations in this webinar series with their families. Our webinar series, in which various topics such as home safety, healthy nutrition, family communication, technology addiction, and coping with exam anxiety are handled by experts, continues to be the guests of our sector employees in 2021 with new topics.
Finally, I would like to share a very recent development with you. Our ÇEİS Examination and Certification Center (ÇESBEM) is authorized to conduct examinations and certification for Cement Production Staff professions. These were included among the professions where uncertified working is prohibited with the communiqué dated 09 April 2021. Within the scope of this development, ÇESBEM is an important center in terms of bringing qualified and certified workforce to the sector. We expect approximately 2500 Cement Production Staff to participate in the examination and certification activities of our center.
You conducted a research that you have recently completed and you have revealed in depth the effects of Covid-19 on the cement industry. Can you tell us about the results of the “Research on the Effects of Covid-19 on Cement Industry Working Life” and the future projection you have drawn from it?
In cooperation with Curiocity Research, we implemented the “Research on the Effects of Covid-19 on Cement Industry Working Life” in order to determine the common view on the transformation process experienced in the working life of the cement industry and to take action in line with the common needs. A total of 3265 people, consisting of top and middle managers and employees of ÇEİS member factories, participated in this research.
Research results reveal that 62% of home/remote workers are very satisfied and satisfied with remote working. Likewise, 50% of those who want to work remotely from home become permanent. 39% of those working from home/remote and 32% of those working from the field/office state that their motivation has increased as a result of the measures taken and practices implemented in their companies during this period. In this process, we see that 65% of home / remote employees have increased their commitment to the company. This rate was reflected in the results as 54% for those working in the office/field. Employees are aware of the resources allocated by the companies in this process, and they think that they are cared for.
On the other hand, the results of the research reveal that working remotely 2 days a week is the most efficient model for both employees and managers. We think that especially our member companies that have successfully experienced remote work may switch to a hybrid working system after the pandemic.
One of your projects that has come to the fore recently is the Building Design Contest. Can you tell us about the details of this contest?
As ÇEİS, we attach great importance to opening up space for the creative spirit of the industry and supporting the elimination of the negative perception on our industry. In line with this vision, we launched the Building Design Contest in 2019 in order to make visible and encourage the aesthetic and innovative use examples of cement. In this contest, we evaluate the innovative and public value projects of industry professionals and students. We carried our competition to its second year, which received great attention and appreciation from our industry and architectural circles in its first year.
As a union, we take care to give every task we undertake to the fullest extent possible. We are working hard to ensure that the ideas deemed worthy of an award in the Building Design Contest are not limited to project files and meet our citizens in their living spaces. Despite coinciding with a difficult and uncertain process like the pandemic, we have compiled the winning projects of the competition, in which a total of 14 projects were awarded, into a book. We have delivered this book to the representatives of our sector, municipalities and universities. In addition, we organized two different online meetings where we brought together the contestants and local governments and where the contestants introduced their projects. Then we built the “Green Concrete” project, which came in third in the professional category, in the central office garden of ÇEİS in Yeniköy. “Green Concrete” was brought back to life in Mardin’s Yeşilli district in the past few days. We continue our negotiations with various institutions and organizations to implement 3 more projects that were awarded in the first year.
This year, in our competition organized under the theme of “Innovative Approaches in the Urban Area”, we ask the participants to rethink, improve and functionalize the undefined, idle or incomplete structures and their immediate surroundings at the city’s crossing points. In this way, we aim to create efficient public spaces that allow activities such as waiting, meeting and breathing from idle areas. The countdown excitement has begun in our competition. On July 07, 2021, we are getting ready to announce this year’s winning projects. Detailed information about the Building Design Contest can be found at https://ceis. karipsis.com/www.yapitasarimyarismasi.com.
When did your industry-specific mobile application “ÇİP” come to life?
As we constantly point out, there is a great and very rapid change happening in every part of the world. We are undergoing transformation in many areas, from the way we perceive life, to our habits of watching and reading, and even to the way we work. I see digitalization as the biggest driver of all these changes. In the digital transformation we are going through, we took a step to reveal the vision of our industry and put into service our first mobile application, CIP.
The lack of a social platform where the cement industry can follow up-to-date information instantly has been a subject we have been focusing on for a long time. At the beginning of 2021, we made our first mobile application called Cement Communication Platform (ÇİP) available to 17500 employees of our industry. In addition to studies on legal and industrial relations, education, occupational health and safety, professional competence, current announcements such as corporate communication activities, sectoral and related statistics, death and appointment can be accessed instantly via the CIP. Our application can be downloaded for free from Google Play and App Store.
Could you also talk about the “ÇEİS Culture-Art Meetings”, which brought a new breath to the sector?
We have all been away from our loved ones and social lives during the pandemic process. We have gone through periods where we have come to the point of losing our morale and motivation. In this process, in order to contribute to our sector, we gave life to the “ÇEİS Culture-Art Meetings” series based on the inspiring and refreshing power of culture and art.
This series started with an online trip to Göbeklitepe, which is called the “zero point of history”, in February 2021, accompanied by Professional Guide, Historian and Travel Writer Saffet Emre TONGUÇ. Right after, on April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, we brought the theater adaptation of the Little Prince, one of the most powerful works of the world, together with the smallest ones of our industry. During the Iyd-el Fitr we left behind, we presented the play “Kindness Fool”, in which master theater actor Haldun Dormen played the leading role, in order to add flavor to our time at home.
We were guests of approximately 3000 houses with these events. In the coming days, our cultural and artistic meetings will continue with the participation of prominent representatives of different disciplines.
As ÇEİS, how do you evaluate the future of the sector? What should Turkey do in this area in order to create world brands?
Our industry should focus on new opportunities in order to maintain its strength in exports, which has been increasing recently, and to increase its momentum in the domestic market.
In the first quarter of 2021, we exported cement to approximately 100 countries. We have become exporting to 18 new countries such as Poland and Croatia. The opening of the Syrian market is a very important development for our industry. On the other hand, the USA is still our most important market among all markets. When we look at the January-March period, there is an 11% increase in our exports to the USA compared to last year. With the declared packages, we anticipate that the demand in the US market will increase in 2022 and 2023.
Cement, a product that is heavy in load and light in cost, obtained after intense labor and a long production process, is not a product that can be exported with its logistics cost due to its nature. For this reason, it is an inevitable necessity to consume cement where it is produced in order to provide optimum benefit. As I mentioned in a different question, our industry, which plays such an important role in the world market and is faced with new opportunities in the global arena, must be able to produce local and global manufacturers who are strong and use local resources efficiently in foreign markets in the future. It will also be beneficial for our country to support and encourage the actors of our industry, who will take a step on this path, by our state.
